Activists complain to mayor about Sea Point leader's 'racism'

26 May 2016 - 14:06 By TMG Digital

Three Cape Town activists said they would submit a complaint of racism to mayor Patricia de Lille on Thursday against a Sea Point ratepayers' leader. The Reclaim the City supporters will lodge the complaint against David Polovin‚ the deputy chairman of the Sea Point Fresnaye Bantry Bay Ratepayers and Residents Association.In a newspaper article on May 14‚ headlined "Hands off Tafelberg"‚ Polovin said the development of affordable housing on the Tafelberg School site in Sea Point was “[not] in the interests of the Sea Point community”.Emma Daitz‚ Thandeka Sisusa and Zackie Achmat say racism need not include the use of crude language or epithets."Polovin’s comments exemplify a racist and anti-poor logic with deep roots in the history of this city and with contemporary and unacceptable consequences for the lives of black Capetonians‚" they say in their complaint."Such a logic continues to structure our city from its geography through to the minutiae of daily life."Polovin claims that affordable housing developments in Sea Point is not in the interests of Sea Pointers. However‚ black and working class Sea Point residents have‚ through their involvement with the Reclaim the City campaign‚ made it clear that they see affordable housing development as very much in their interests."Some of their reasons include the lengthy‚ costly and dangerous commutes faced by many workers who live on the Cape Flats‚ but work in Sea Point. They also seek relief from the abuses of many Sea Point landlords. They desire dignified and secure living conditions‚ with access to public resources in Sea Point‚ a suburb built and run‚ and its children cared for‚ by black people."The activists said Polovin is reflecting only the views of "Sea Point’s predominently white elite"."To argue against the radical transformation of the neighborhood on the grounds that it is not in the interests of white people – which is effectively what Polovin has done – is to use race as a criterion for a dehumanising form of exclusion. In other words‚ Polivin’s argument is premised on racist ideas about who does and does not have a right to Sea Point."(This) sophisticated indirect racism has a devastating and direct impact. Polovin speaks on behalf of … a lobby group of mainly extremely wealthy White property developers. These property developers prey on the prejudice of traditionally white rates payers under the guise of 'property values' being diminished by affordable housing."The complaint is due to be a handed to a representative of De Lille's office at the Civic Centre at noon. - TMG Digital..

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